Turkish Star Wars: a trash-movie, which became a cult

May 13, 2018

The Turkish version of the film starred actor Junet Arkin – the star of the main Turkish blockbusters

Today is May 4 – the day when fans celebrate their holiday "Star Wars". The date refers to the famous phrase "May the force be withyou" ("Let the force be with you") from the movie. The parting words of the Jedi Knights turned into "May the fourth be with you" ("May peace be with you on the fourth of May.") and marked the beginning of an unofficial holiday "Star Wars".

This year, the Cinema Museum in London decided to coincide with this date, a special show of a Turkish film based on the world-famous film franchise George Lucas.

ABOUT "Turkish Star Wars", appeared on the screens in 1982, was forgotten shortly after the release. However, a few years ago the film gained popularity and became literally cult.

It is annually methodically included in the list "worst films in the history of cinema", than its creators are publicly proud.

Lovers of absurd films consider "Turkish Star Wars" a masterpiece: it is so bad that it is beautiful.

Its official name is Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam ("The man who saves the world"), but it is better known as "Turkish Star Wars", because it was borrowed ideas, characters and even footage from the picture of George Lucas.

The film was shot with a minimal budget, and in some scenes in the background were projected footage from the original "Star Wars"

Turkish director Chetin Inanch wanted to shoot a sci-fi movie that would eclipse the famous movie.

But there was one serious problem: he did not have a budget. So he did very simply.

He gave a bribe to a guard in a Turkish cinema, he borrowed a film "star Wars", quickly made a copy of it and then cut out all the scenes of space battles.

Thus, he could get the special effects so necessary for spectacular cinema.

In the Turkish version of the film, actor Junet Arkin, who at that time starred in the main Turkish blockbuster, is in a spaceship with a motorcycle helmet on his head. Behind him are projected images from the canonical "Star Wars".

The film completely ignores copyright laws. The film’s authors also contributed music to the Hollywood blockbusters, among which "Indiana Jones", "Flash Gordon" and "Star Cruiser "Galaxy"".

The film received a second life and a lot of fans around the world thanks to the Internet

The script of the painting does not copy the original plot to 100%. In action, elements appeared, which in "Star Wars" Lucas was not there.

Two Turkish men fly from space to save the Earth from the evil sorcerer. Kung fu techniques help them to defeat them, with which they deal with creatures, including robots with blue heads, like a yeti monster with red wool, skeletons and zombies.

This is not the first time that other countries, including India, the Philippines and Nigeria, have shot their own remakes of famous Hollywood blockbusters. However, according to Ian Smith, a specialist in the history of motion picture art from the Royal College of London, Turkey occupies a special place in the list of film plagiarism.

"The Turkish film industry in the 1960s, the 70s and the early 80s filmed the processed Hollywood films without any hesitation ".

Critics did not like the film, but in 1982 he collected full halls in Turkey

Fans of this movie especially appreciate the Turkish remakes "Exorcist", "Batman", "Spider-Man" and "Captain America", filmed in the same period.

It was believed that the copies "Turkish Star Wars" on 35mm film were lost forever, but thanks to the assistance of the American film enthusiast Ed Glacer, one of them was discovered in Istanbul.

"There is hardly anything comparable to them ["Turkish Star Wars"]. In some moments, what is happening on the screen is so extravagant and outrageous that you begin to admire it", – he said.

Creators "Star Wars" They did not try to sue their Turkish counterparts for copyright infringement.

Director Chetin Inanch speaks of his creation with pride.

In an interview with the Turkish magazine about the movie Beyaz Perde, he said: "Now there are so many opportunities and technological achievements, but will anyone be able to repeat my film?"